Before we head out from Carlsbad (and every morning), we come here for our morning latte. There's a nice outside seating area where dogs are allowed and our dogs can be at our feet while we sip on our drinks and enjoy the surroundings.
Then it was up the road to Mexican Hat Nursery in Riverside. It's a fun nursery to visit and well worth the effort to call ahead.
Harvey Welton is the owner, pictured here with yours truly on the right.
We also visited some other nurseries along the way (California Cactus Center, Grigsby, Silhouettes of the Desert, Bachs, B&B, Tanque Verde, Lone Pine, and C&J, to name a few), but we won't bore you with them all.